Why Are All the Good Guys Total Monsters? (11 page)

‘Vesper, where do you want me to
pack this?’ My mother held up my faerie dress. ‘I love this dress,’ she said,
admiring it in the early autumn light shining through my bedroom window. Summer
was a memory and all the trees outside our home were glowing with the copper,
gold and russet shades of autumn.

We were packing up the house in London. Some of our things,
like clothes, were going with us to New York, but most of it was going into
storage for the next two years.

‘I’m not taking the dress with me.’ I didn’t want to risk
losing it in travelling.

Mum nodded and wrapped it carefully in tissue paper as if it
was as precious to her as it was to me.

I felt like weeping. I’d felt so sad since we started
packing. It was one thing talking about leaving London and going off to New York. It sounded exciting, like something you see in a movie. But the reality wasn’t
pretty. Seeing the house gradually empty of everything we loved and cared
about, hearing our footsteps echo in the rooms as packing boxes filled with our
belongings were stored in the hall ready to be picked up by the storage company
kept making me want to burst into tears. I’d miss the house, and London, and Orlaith and Midnight. The list went on and on…

But I didn’t want to waste my mother’s chance for a better
life in the Big Apple. So I kept my tears tucked away.

Mum suddenly slumped down on the edge of my bed that looked
like a whirlwind of clothes had hit it. She sighed wearily. ‘Are we doing the
right thing?’

Our blonde hair was tousled, worn in manic ponytails that
made us look more alike than ever. Dressed casually in jeans and T–shirts to
move and shift and clean and pack, we looked drained and anything but happy
about the prospect of leaving London.

I looked at her. Should I be honest? This was never a house
of secrets.

She read my hesitation.

‘I know it’s a wonderful chance to go and work in New York, but are we just doing it because of the money? What are we giving up?’

‘Well…the money’s great and it could be a boost to your career…’

‘But what if we’re not happy there? I hardly had a chance to
breathe during the summer. The pace was frantic. And I missed the summer with
you and Orlaith. We’ll never get that time back. You’ll only be seventeen once.
I wanted to enjoy your last few years at school before you make your own life.’

I agreed with everything she said. I’d missed her when she’d
been away. We always had such fun at Orlaith’s house. Even when we were in London, Orlaith would jump on a plane and visit us several times a year at weekends, and
we’d do the same, travelling up on Friday nights to Edinburgh. Okay, so Orlaith
could fly to New York, but it wouldn’t be the same.

‘I’ll miss London,’ she said. ‘I love this house and I love
working for the paper in London.’

I nodded. ‘But this is the chance of a lifetime.’

‘Maybe it is, but deep down I think we’d be happier here.’

‘Me too,’ I said.

Mum smiled hopefully. ‘You’d be okay about staying?’

‘Yes. I’m happy here. I love London. And Edinburgh. As you
say, we’ll never get this time back.’

She jumped up and gave me a huge hug. ‘I’ll phone my editor.
He’s offered me a great pay rise if I’ll change my mind and stay.’

I smiled at her. ‘I’ll start unpacking.’

She hurried off to make the call.

I unpacked my faerie dress, and looked forward to my mystery
date that night.

I’d opened the letter in Edinburgh when Orlaith came home with Midnight. It had been late at night, and Orlaith had
gone to bed, tired from all the excitement of her artwork being used for
household prints and from travelling.

Midnight kept me company in the garden. The letter had
instructed me —
do not open until Midnight is home
.

I opened it carefully and read the message, which was an
invitation to have dinner in London in the autumn. A date, time and location
had been given. It was signed,
Archer
, though it didn’t reveal whether
or not he was going to be my dinner date. I hoped he was. I really did. I’d
been dreaming about him, thinking things over, and wishing that this handsome
hunter fae would want to date a mortal like me.

Midnight watched me read the letter, as if waiting on my
response. Maybe that was what Archer intended. I hadn’t seen him since the
night he’d left. Maybe he needed Midnight to tell him my reaction.

I smiled at Midnight and nodded. ‘Tell him I’ll be there.’

If a cat could look delighted…

And off he ran, climbing up the umbrella tree and
disappearing over the wall.

Filled with enthusiasm that we
weren’t leaving London, mum and I unpacked everything. Although the house was a
bit untidy it looked more like home again.

I got ready for my dinner date, choosing to wear a dress
that I’d bought in a fashionable shop in London. My mother knew where I was
going and she intended putting her feet up and watching a movie, though no
doubt she’d be working on her journalism. She always did. Her editor was
pleased she was staying in the city, she’d got her wage rise — and I’d been
promised some freelance work with the paper. My first foot on the newspaper
career ladder. So things had worked out well.

Now all I had to do was concentrate on the mystery date.
Would it be Archer waiting for me outside the restaurant in the city centre?

It was one of those autumn evenings that had an energy and
excitement to it. A possibility of romance.

My heart beat faster as I took a taxi to the restaurant. I
peered out the window of the cab as it neared the front of the restaurant. The
street was busy with people. I looked for Archer. He wasn’t there.

I paid the taxi and walked towards the restaurant. I’d worn
a velvet jacket over my dress and pulled the collar up against the cold night
air. I planned to wait for several minutes, maybe more, and if I got stood up,
I’d jump in a taxi and head back home. Ever the optimist.

Across the street I thought I saw Midnight. There was lots
of traffic and I tried to see if it was him sitting on a window ledge. Yes,
there he was. What was the cat doing here?

‘You look lovely,’ a voice said over my shoulder.

‘Archer?’

He smiled.

‘Archer?’ I said again. ‘You look…’

‘Different?’

That was putting it mildly. He still looked gorgeous but the
blue had gone from his blond hair, and the style seemed less…fae–like. No hint
of wings, unusual clothing or anything that would mark him as being a fae.

‘What happened to you?’

His smile faltered.

‘Not that you don’t look gorgeous…’ I blushed, not meaning
to say that.

His smile brightened considerably. Archer was a
heartbreaker. As a fae, or dressed to fit in with the mortal crowd, he was
stunning.

He wore a dark blue suit, and a dark blue shirt unbuttoned
at the collar.

‘Thanks for turning up, Vesper. Midnight told me you’d be
here, but I thought maybe you’d change your mind. It’s been weeks since we last
met.’

‘Why did you make such a mystery about inviting me to
dinner?’ I said.

He shrugged and looked nervous. ‘I wanted to give you time.
Time for all the spellbinding to wear off, and for you to have some distance
from what happened with Daire and Sabastien and me. I wanted to know that when
you said yes, it would be because you wanted to date me, that you weren’t just wrapped
up in the moment or still tainted by the Cupid’s darts.’

Despite everything he said, the part that stood out for me
was —
date me
. Archer wanted to date me!

In all the excitement I thought he’d brought flowers for me,
but they belonged to someone else, another man probably on a first date. The
street was so busy. I’d seen the flowers and thought they were his.

Archer saw me looking at the flowers.

Without anyone noticing, at least I hoped they hadn’t
noticed, Archer produced a bunch of flowers for me as if by magic.

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘But don’t do that. Someone will see
you. They’ll notice the flowers appearing out of thin air…’ I prattled on and
Archer finally shut me up.

He leaned down and kissed me.

All thoughts of flowers, magic, fae, and everything else
faded and I was lost in the moment, the kiss — warm, sensual and loving.

‘Shall we go inside?’ Archer said, gazing at me with his ice
blue eyes.

I nodded and smiled.

I didn’t know if this relationship would work, but I
intended enjoying our date and our time together. He’d invited me to his world
later in the year, a wintertime ball. I’d need a dress for that. I wondered
what I’d tell my mother about Archer. I certainly couldn’t tell her that I was
dating a fae, a monster. I sighed and smiled to myself. Why were all the good
guys total monsters?

My mother’s still a journalist. As wonderful as she is, that
makes her one of the most inquisitive people on earth. And now there is one
secret in our house.

End

About
De-ann Black

De-ann Black is a bestselling
author, scriptwriter and former newspaper journalist. Traditionally published
for over 15 years.

She has over 40 books published, for adults (romance, crime
thrillers, espionage/suspense novels) and children (non-fiction rocket science
books, children's fiction and picture books).

Her books include Special Forces and crime thriller books -
Electric Shadows, The Strife of Riley, Guile, and Moth to the Flame. Romantic
comedies include - The Bitch-Proof Suit, The Bitch-Proof Bride, The Bitch-Proof
Romance, The Cure For Love, The Tea Dress Shop At Christmas, Oops! I'm the
Paparazzi, Oops! I'm Up To Mischief, Oops! I'm A Secret Agent, Oops! I'm A
Hollywood Agent, Shopping For Men At Christmas and Shopping For Men.

De-ann's latest children's fiction books are: Secondhand
Spooks - December 32nd, Faeriefied, and School for Aliens.

She previously worked as a full-time newspaper journalist
for several years. She had her own weekly columns in the press. This included
being a motoring correspondent where she got to test drive cars every week for
the press for three years.

She is also a professional artist and illustrator. And
photographer. Fabric design, and fashion, are part of her work.

Additionally, De-ann has always been interested in fitness,
and was a fitness and bodybuilding champion, 100 metre runner and mountaineer.
As a former N.A.B.B.A. Miss Scotland, she had a weekly fitness show on the
radio that ran for over three years.

De-ann trained in Shukokai karate, boxing, kickboxing, Dayan
Qigong, and Jiu Jitsu.

She splits her time between Scotland, Dublin and London.

Find out more at
http://www.de-annblack.com